


Maggie Goes to Kindergarten

by Chaerring



Series: The Maggie Banner Series [3]
Category: Marvel (Movies), The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Bruce is a worry wart, Family, Gen, Kid Fic, Kiddie Hulk, Thor is an awful story teller, first time school
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-29
Updated: 2012-06-01
Packaged: 2017-11-06 06:13:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/415656
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chaerring/pseuds/Chaerring
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Miss Berry doesn't believe Maggie has a green Daddy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TheGreatSporkWielder](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheGreatSporkWielder/gifts).



> Disclaimer: Miss Berry, Maggie, and Pattie are mine, but no one else is.
> 
> Thanks again to TheGreatSporkWielder for beta-ing. This one's for her too because Maggie is all her fault.

Five-year-old Margaret Rebecca Banner was scared. Not scared in the way that meant she was supposed to scream for her green daddy or hide in one of the secret cabinets Uncle Tony and Jarvis had made for her, but scared in the way that she wished she could hide behind Momma's legs or under her favorite blanket instead of walking forward. Kindergarten had seemed like a fun idea at first. Daddy and Momma had told her there would be other kids there and Maggie had wanted to meet them. She didn't know much about other kids. Uncle Steve had tried to take her to the park to let her meet some other kids and to play on the swings, but all the nannies had tried to play with him instead. Momma had laughed, but Maggie hadn't thought it was very funny. Instead of going to the park, now she and Uncle Steve colored and drew together.

Maggie had been excited about school. At least, she had been until she had heard her Daddy talking to her Momma that morning while she ate breakfast. 

"It's not too late, you know. Everyone could just home school her. She's brilliant; it wouldn't be hard."

Momma's reply hadn't sounded happy. It was the Trouble Voice used for bad consequences when Maggie did something she knew she shouldn't have.

"And let her have absolutely no social skills with people her own age? I don't think so. If she wants to grow up and have older friends, marry someone older than her like I did, there's no problem with that, but I will not make her predisposed to only hanging out with older people. She only knows the Avengers, Bruce. While you're all insane and completely lovable, she has to be able to speak with people her own age and deal with the idiots of the world without getting that greenish tinge."

Maggie hadn't understood the whole response, but her Daddy's face hadn't been happy for the rest of the morning, not even really happy when he kissed her and Momma goodbye to go downstairs to his lab. Momma had called her Daddy a worry wart and drove her to class. They walked in to class and Momma introduced her to Miss Berry before kissing Maggie's cheek and just _leaving_. That was when Maggie got scared. 

Miss Berry was tall, thin, and pretty, like Aunt Pepper and Jarvis, but instead of red or blond hair she had black hair and red lips like Snow White. Maggie wondered if she was a secret princess and decided if she was it was probably okay to trust her a little. So, when Miss Berry took her hand and led her into the classroom to sit on the colorful little chairs with the other kids, Maggie went without causing trouble and it was fun. There was story time, which Maggie loved; even if Miss Berry wasn't as good as Jarvis, she was still better than Uncle Thor. There was letter and numbers time which was kind of boring because Uncle Tony had already taught her her numbers and she had a letter lesson with Jarvis every night when he read her stories, but it wasn't so bad. 

Maggie got to sit next to a girl with really cool braided pigtails named Pattie and they shared a big box of crayons when Miss Berry told them it was coloring time and they were supposed to draw their families. She concentrated very hard on her colors and shapes and tried to draw everyone just right with all the tricks Uncle Steve had taught her. She even remembered she could use two different green crayons to get the right green for her Daddy.

Then Miss Berry started walking around asking the other kids who were in their pictures. She said it was to get to know them better. Pattie had two older sisters. One was ten and the other was eighteen. She said her older brother was kind of like their dad because he was twenty three years old and that was super old. Maggie thought it was kind of weird that Pattie didn't have a mom or a dad, but Momma had told her some people just didn't have the same kind of families, so she didn't ask about it. 

Then Miss Berry was asking Maggie who was in her picture.

"That's Momma, she's got blue eyes and loooong brown hair. That's Daddy, he always wears a lab coat. That's my Other Daddy. He's green and Uncle Tony wears metal that's bright yellow and bright red. Uncle Steve is very blond and very big, but not as big as my green Daddy, see? Uncle Thor has long hair, but not as long as Momma's. You can't see my godfather Jarvis because he lives in the house, like a ghost, but not dead, but he's tall like Aunt Pepper, who is right there." 

That wasn't exactly her whole family, but Maggie knew she wasn't supposed to draw Uncle Clint or Aunt Natasha, even if Aunt Natasha brought her the prettiest presents and taught her all about the world.

"That's...That's a very nice picture, Maggie. Very detailed, but the directions were to draw just your family. Not your heroes. Will you draw me another picture without Iron Man, Thor, and the Hulk? It's nice that you included the Hulk, because not a lot of little girls like him, but you should only include your family." 

Maggie wasn't sure what Miss Berry was trying to tell her because she _knew_ Iron Man was what other people called Uncle Tony and Hulk was her green Daddy's name, but calling him that was silly. It'd be like trying to call Momma, Darcy. She didn't understand what Miss Berry meant when she said little girls didn't like her Daddy. Maggie _loved_ both her Daddies.

"But Miss Berry, Daddy and Uncle Tony are my family. Uncle Thor doesn't live with us all the time because he's got another family, but--"

"Maggie, I'm sorry sweetie, but superheroes are not your family."

Maggie could feel her chest getting tight. Momma had said she would learn things in school. New things, because teachers were smart and it was their job to help people learn. What if, what if Momma had left her at school to learn that her green Daddy and Uncle Tony couldn't be her family anymore because they were superheroes and didn't want to tell her themselves? What if Uncle Steve wouldn't be her uncle anymore either because he was Captain America? Most important though, was her green Daddy. What if she never got to see him again? She loved him so much, as much as her other Daddy and Momma. 

Uncle Steve said if there was something happening that was wrong, that you knew was wrong and had to be stopped even if other people told you it was okay, you should still try to stop it. Miss Berry trying to teach Maggie that her family wasn't Uncle Tony and green Daddy, and Uncle Thor was _wrong_ and Maggie wasn't going to let it happen. So, Maggie got angry.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bruce gets a phone call while he's in the lab.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own Bruce or JARVIS, but Maggie, Miss Berry, and Pattie are mine.
> 
> Thank you so much to everyone who left comments and kudos on this!
> 
> Thank you once again to TheGreatSporkWielder for beta-ing!

Dr. Bruce Banner nearly took his hand off with the molecular splicing laser when the phone rang throughout his lab. It was a normal phone, not his communicator, so he wasn't very worried. He simply switched the splicer off so he didn't run the risk of injuring himself and causing an Incident while in the lab.

"JARVIS, I thought I switched all my calls to silent except for emergencies."

Unusually, the AI's holographic form appeared from the left wall of his lab. Normally JARVIS saved his appearances for Maggie and didn't bother when it was the adults that had known him for years. Bruce told himself he wasn't imagining the worried look on the thin projected face.

"It's Miss Margaret's school, Dr. Banner."

Bruce could feel the blood rush out of his face and The Other Guy wake up in the back of his mind as he hit the button on the nearest screen that would allow him to take the call. He was only dimly aware of JARVIS hovering in the background. Bruce forced himself to stay calm and not let his imagination run away with him.

"This is Bruce Banner."

He could hardly hear the teacher for all of the background noise.

"Dr. Banner! This is Cheryl Berry, your daughter's teacher. Would you please come down to the school if at all possible? Maggie has turned green. She doesn't seem to be ill--"

Bruce pinched the bridge of his nose. He had _told_ Darcy that school was a horrible idea. Who knows what some other kid, or even the teacher, had done to make his daughter mad and set off her gamma gene? Then it occurred to him that pain set off the gene too. What if Maggie had been hurt while playing at recess? He trusted JARVIS to move the call with him even as he hit the shut down panel for his lab and charged through the doors.

"She's not ill. I'll be there as soon as I can get to the school."

He definitely wasn't imagining the relief in the poor teacher's voice. 

"Great! Thank you. We'll see you soon, Dr. Banner."

"Sir, I have prepared one of Mr. Stark's cars complete with Miss Margaret's booster seat for you to take as Mrs. Banner has your family car today."

Bruce shouldn't have been surprised. JARIVS was somehow always _extra_ on the ball where Maggie was concerned. It was a short elevator ride from his lab to the garage, and then Bruce was driving out as JARVIS continued to come in over the speakers.

"Thank you JARVIS. I'll let you know what happened as soon as I can."

"I appreciate that, sir. Shall I inform Mrs. Banner of where you are headed, or would you like to do so yourself?"

Bruce considered the questions a moment. Did he want to rub this in Darcy's face? Or wait and see what was actually going on before he tried to do so?

"I'll let you call her. Don't tell her "We told her so" yet. We'll wait and see what's actually happened before we hit her again with homeschooling."

"Very good, sir."

Somehow, Bruce's path to the school was remarkably free of traffic. It only took a few moments for Bruce to come to the correct conclusion in his mind.

"JARVIS? Did you hack the New York traffic system?"

"Hack is a very strong word, Dr. Banner."

Bruce choked on a laugh as he slid the car into a visitor's parking space at the school.

" _Thank you_ , JARVIS. I'll let you know what's going on soon."

"Of course, sir."

He patted his hair and tried to straighten his clothing as he walked into the office and approached the front desk, only belatedly realizing he hadn't removed his lab coat. The secretary smiled brightly at him.

"Good Morning, how can I--"

Any other time Bruce would have been fine with pleasantries, but not at that moment when Maggie could be hurt.

"My daughter, Margaret Banner, in Cheryl Berry's class; I just received a---"

The secretary's lips pursed.

"Of course, I need to see some ID, please, Dr. Banner. We can't let strangers in to see the children after all."

"Right, of course. Safety and all that, I appreciate it." 

Except at the moment when he was afraid his daughter was either bleeding or rampaging, possibly both. He patted his pockets until he came up with his wallet and thrust his license into her face. She smiled, not as pleasantly as before, and ran his card through the scanner until it produced a visitor's sticker with his name on it in blocky black letters. 

"Thank you, Dr. Banner, for visiting our school today. Your daughter's classroom is straight down this hallway, fifth door on the right."

Bruce hardly managed a thank you over his shoulder as he tore away from the counter and headed for the right door. He burst in, and sure enough Maggie was sitting at a table, green as she'd ever been, clutching a drawing in her hand. The teacher, _Miss Berry_ , he reminded himself, was at his side at an instant. 

"We were doing a drawing exercise. I asked them to draw and tell me about their families, and I was trying to explain to Maggie that superheroes weren't family members, but....I'm afraid she took it rather hard."

Bruce wanted to pull his hair out in frustration. This was his and Darcy's fault. When she had convinced him to let Maggie go to a real school instead of homeschooling, it had been their mutual decision not to brief the school on Maggie's home life to keep from having her singled out for favoritism or anything else. He sighed and crossed the room to kneel next to his green little girl, who hadn't even noticed his arrival she was so intent on her picture. 

"That's an excellent picture, Maggie, honey. I can see you've been learning a lot about drawing and coloring with Uncle Steve."

It was only up close that he could see the slightly greenish tears welled up in her eyes. It let him know that she was scared as well as angry about being told her family wasn't her family, but she turned her head when he was done speaking, and paid attention to him. It was more than he could say The Other Guy did sometimes.

**"Daddy?"**

He nodded and scooped his precious little girl into his arms. She was heavier than normal; she always was when green, but for now she was still young enough and small enough that he could hold her even then.

"C'mere baby girl, let's get you calmed down so you can tell me what happened and I can fix it."

She threw her little green arms around his neck and squeezed. The Other Guy was leaping at a chance to appear and latched on to the fact that his daughter was slightly strangling him. Bruce ignored the pain and counted slowly in his head until The Other Guy grumbled and settled back down. He rocked Maggie in his arms and rubbed her back until she relented a little with her hold on him.

**"Daddy fix?"**

Bruce nodded as solemnly as he could and brushed a little green tear away from her cheek.

"I _promise_ I will fix it as best I can."

**"Green Daddy?"**

He hesitated. He really didn't think this was a problem for The Other Guy, but you never knew.

"If The Other Daddy needs to get involved to fix it he will, too, how about that?"

After a moment's hesitation, he watched Maggie nod. Less than a minute later, she was starting to shrink and regain her lighter skin tone. Bruce thanked whoever was listening for Darcy's forethought to always dress their daughter in slightly too large, and stretchy clothing. 

"Okay, honey. Now tell me what's wrong. Don't get upset, just tell me."

Her cheeks puffed, out and she reached back at the table for her picture. The other little girl there, with her hair done in braided pigtails, saw her goal and stretched their way, handing her the paper.

"Thank you, Pattie."

Bruce had to hide a relieved smile. At least this little girl wouldn't be afraid of his daughter if she came back to class tomorrow. That was, of course, assuming the school didn't kick her out and he couldn't convince Darcy to try homeschooling now. He watched as Maggie smoothed out the slightly wrinkled picture in their laps.

"Momma said Miss Berry was a teacher and she was going to help me learn new things, but Miss Berry was trying to teach me superheroes couldn't be my family. Uncle Steve said if something was wrong I had to stand up against it. That's wrong. Uncle Tony and green Daddy and Uncle Thor and--"

He watched her hesitate and glanced uneasily at the teacher who was standing a short distance away. He knew they had had a discussion about who had a secret identity and who didn't, and Maggie was a genius, but it was still hard to tell how much she really understood sometimes.

"-the rest of the family are mine. It would be wrong if I had to let them go just because they were superheroes."

Bruce was pretty sure his daughter had just liquefied his insides into a giant pile of mushy love for her. Not that he wasn't filled with love for her every nanosecond of every minute of every day, but sometimes she just said or did something that made him a million times more glad that he'd given in to Darcy's idea of a baby.

"Oh, Maggie. Miss Berry, didn't mean we had to stop being your family. She just didn't know we were actually your family, because not a lot of little boys and girls have families with superheroes in them. This is Momma and Daddy's fault for not explaining to Miss Berry first."

He watched her little eyebrow go up skeptically.

"Yours and Momma's fault?"

He nodded back.

"All our fault."

"But now you'll fix it? And green Daddy and Uncle Tony and Uncle Thor and everyone else is still my family?"

"I'll fix it right now and not even invading aliens could keep The Other Daddy or Uncle Tony or Uncle Thor or anyone else from not being your family. They love you. Got that?"

It took a weight off his chest when she giggled and grinned. Invading aliens weren't really something she should giggle over, but if it got her to understand how serious he was, he'd use whatever he could.

"Got it."

"Good. Now, why don't you stay here with Pattie, and I'll go talk to Miss Berry."

He smiled when Maggie kissed his cheek and hopped off his lap to return to her chair, taking the picture with her.


	3. Miss Berry's Side

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Cheryl Berry worries a little more than necessary, but strengthens her resolve despite it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own Bruce or Darcy, but the others are mine this time.
> 
> Thank you so much to everyone who's left comments and kudos, and thanks again to TheGreatSporkWielder for beta-ing.
> 
> From Maggie's perspective Miss Berry came off a little bit like a bitch, so I wanted to give a bit of insight into what she's up against.

Cheryl Berry stood off to the side of the little table where Margaret Banner and her father were sitting, trying not to feel like twenty kinds of idiot. She would have never, not in a million years, connected the mild-mannered Dr. Banner and his wife to the Avengers from what she had seen of them on registration day for kindergarten. Who knew any of the Avengers had kids? Certainly not her, but then again, that was probably the way they wanted it. With them battling super villains all of the time, their families were at risk. Cheryl felt for them, she really did, and safety was probably a reason she hadn't been informed about Maggie's home life, but she was still frustrated and more than a little annoyed about not being informed. 

With an ear out for the conclusion of the Banners' conversation, Cheryl looked out across her classroom, where she had sent the kids to play at the centers to settle the commotion, and felt her heart ache just a little. She loved children, wanted some of her own one day when she could find the right person to raise them with. Her hag of a grandmother had told her to become a business woman, or secretary if she couldn't do the work, and Cheryl was starting to think she might have to fall back on that. This was her first class of children, and she was becoming embarrassed about the shiny new teaching degree and primary educations certification hanging on the wall behind her desk. If Dr. Banner took any of this to the principal, or school board, if even one of the other teachers told the principal about her having to phone a parent on her first day..... 

It could go very badly for her, and if she was let go here, on the first day of school, and her children split into other classrooms, she would probably never get another teaching job with that disgrace on her resume, or if she did, it wouldn't be a good job.

 _Well,_ she thought, _I won't go without defending myself._

Her grandmother might have been a hag of a woman trying to teach her not to do what would make her happy in life, but Cheryl knew her parents had supported her becoming a teacher, and they wouldn't want her to give it up easily. So, when Maggie kissed Dr. Banner's cheek and he rose to head in her direction, she stiffened her back and prepared herself. She would fight for her job, even if it meant going toe to toe with an Avenger.

"Miss Berry? I'd like to apologize about this whole thing. Darcy and I should have informed you beforehand about Maggie's...er...condition, I guess you would call it, and our unique home life. It was poor judgment on our part not to inform you. Our reasoning was that we'd avoid favoritism or having her singled out, but in retrospect, this whole thing might have been worse."

Cheryl could hardly believe her ears. He was _apologizing_ to her, not berating her for upsetting his child. Relief coursed through her veins. She could handle this. As long as she had the chance to try, Cheryl would try to teach any child offered to her.

"Thank you for your apology, Dr. Banner. I can see why you would be reluctant to tell someone about Maggie's situation, but I would like to reassure you here at this school, and especially in my classroom, we endeavor to teach and treat all of our children equally. I'm very glad to be Maggie's teacher, just as glad as I am to be Pattie's, or any of the other kids I've been given charge of this year."

She watched his shoulders relax, and belatedly came to the conclusion that he had been just as worried as she had been. Had he been worried she would ask him to take Maggie away? Cheryl would never do that. She didn't have any experience with gifted children, didn't have much experience teaching yet, apart from her internships, but she had decided a long time ago that every child deserved a chance at an education.

"Thank you. My wife and I really appreciate that." 

A slightly awkward silence began to ensue before Cheryl mustered her courage again.

"Before you leave, as I'm sure you have work to get back to, would you mind scheduling a time good for both you and your wife when the three of us could meet and discuss Maggie's abilities, and anything else I should know to be able to teach her to the best of _my_ ability? Judging by her vocabulary, and the way her attention wandered slightly during our alphabet time, she's already a very smart girl. I plan on meeting with each of my children's parents to discuss them, but perhaps Maggie can go first."

The sooner Cheryl could learn everything she could about Maggie's abilities, how to prevent an incident, or help her come out of one, the better off the entire class would be. She'd be able to prevent large instructional gaps like the one they were currently having. Dr. Banner smiled slightly and nodded.

"That's a great idea. If you'll call the same number you did to get a hold of me again this afternoon, I'm sure my wife will be able to find a time much quicker than I will. She's much better at that sort of thing than I am."

She offered him a smile then, and her hand. He looked slightly surprised, but returned the gesture anyways. 

"I'll be sure to do that this afternoon. Now, if you don't mind seeing yourself out, Dr. Banner. We're going to continue with our lessons until the end of the day."

"Right, of course." 

Cheryl nodded, feeling much more optimistic and pleased with the way everything had turned out in that encounter better than she had expected, and turned to call the children to the mat for afternoon story time. She stalled a little, re-positioning her rocking chair while Maggie hugged her father goodbye.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next in the Maggie series: Loki visits Avengers Tower.


End file.
